Seizures

[Grinmajann]

My 88 year old mother has been having "tremors" throughout her entire body for over a month now. At first they started as just some small shaking. They seemed to only happen when she was getting up out of her chair (coincidentally after a meal). Eventually they started coming more frequently, and at night. (So much for my theory that it was caused by something she was eating and/or exersion (sp?). She could still communicate during them and usually they stopped after a few minutes. Her entire body shakes HARD and while it helps to hold her tightly it doesn't stop them. The doctor finally agreed to an MRI which showed "shrinkage of the brain". He did not think that was the cause as most older people have that problem and put her on Mysoline (sp?). The head nurse at the assisted living facility said they were definitely NOT seizures because you cannot talk during a seizure She was on the medicine for 3 days and then a week ago had 7 episodes in the morning before getting out of bed. The nurse called me to let me know and I drove down there and after talking to the doctor (it was a Saturday) agreed we should take her to E/R. There the doctor witnessed 3 of these episodes (she had a total of 17 that day) and told me they indeed WERE seizures. He said there are seizures where you can still talk, although they are not well known. He then changed her medicine to Depakote (not sure of this name, but something like that), and she is now down to 3 or 4 episodes a day. However, they seem to be stronger, and she is "not herself" afterwards, very drowsy, forgetful, typical 88 year old woman stuff. She had an EEG today, but of course there won't be results until next week. My problem is the head nurse is telling all the nurses that she is "faking" it for attention. I am furious about this, but cannot confront her as I heard this from one of the nurses who is a friend. She does not believe the E/R doctor. If I could just hear from SOMEONE who has had this happen or something to go on, I am very upset about this as I know she is not faking this. She HATES attention and even tries to hide the seizures staying in her room. Please help. Thank you so much

[MyKidzRKute]

I would be absolutely furious as well!! My mother, while she is not elderly, suffers from grand mal seizures....she is in her 40's and she has since she was about 12 or 13..her seizures render her uncocious and shaking and i have been dealing with them since i was a VERY young age.....for days after she is a bit confused and need recovery time......Now heres the boiling point...i started having grand mal seizures myself 2 months ago.....and i am still able to talk during these....i wouldn't have believed it if i my husband hadn't gotten one on his phone...they last anywhere from 3 to 10 minutes and i'm fully concious yet i have NO recollection of them afterwards.....and the pain and confusion that follows is HORRIBLE!! My muscles are sore and my tounge is all bit up and although my last incident of seizures were on sunday adn monday of this week i don't really recall this past weekend at all...it's like a series of my life has dissapeared. I am also pregnant so i was trying to avoid treating my seizures until my second trimester but after this week the damage i could have done to myself would be far worse than that of seizure medication....I fell down a flight of stairs and have bruises and scratches all over my body...yet i remained completely concious for all 5 of my seizures....i don't recall any of them and my husband did tell me that right before each seizure i told him i was about to have one so there is deffinetly something to it.....feel free to email me if you ever wanna chat...my email is [moderator note: e-mail address has been removed]

[Grinmajann]

I am SO sorry for your troubles.. My gosh hon, you must be scared to death!! (I call you hon, because I feel like you are younger, like my daughters' ages.. hope you don't mind.. it just slipped out, lol) That alone WITHOUT being pregnant must be awful. Thank goodness your husband got one on his phone...

Fortunately (I meant to write the post again to clear it up, but forgot), my mother was diagnosed last month with myoclonus. I say fortunately because it is treatable (Neurotin) and it is NOT seizures. I found a WONDERFUL neurologist that spent 3 HOURS with her, one on one (well one on TWO..I was there of course), and well, he was just SO nice and patient with her. Myoclonus is any involuntary muscle movement.. most people have mild cases (like hiccups and that JERKING you feel sometimes when you first fall asleep?) but Mom's is very severe. But it was such a relief to just get a diagnosis.

Thank you for writing to me, I sure hope you find some answers and get some meds to control this without harming the baby. Let me know how you are doing if you'd like.

Take care... Jan

[MyKidzRKute]

O no i don't mind at all!!!! And honestly i was thinking about the post u wrote, about your mother, today before i knew that you had responded to mine....it just makes me so furious that your mother could be in a home and be treated that way by any person! My mother is a nurse and she always did assisted living....maybe thats why i have such a soft spot for elderly folks i'm not sure....anywho i myself am a nursing student and when i deal with patients right now around the age or older than your mother i honestly have nothing but respect for them! I mean even if i was in a situation where i believed someone that was 88 years old was "faking" some type of disorder WHO CARES!!! After 88 years they have earned the right to be looked at, diagnosed and treated if neccesary! And if not neccesary oh well! At least i would know that i helped someone who had put a lot of years on this earth and that in itself is something worth spending time on!!! I am soooo glad that your mother was diagnosed and i know that sometimes nurses and cna's can get caught up in what they want to believe rather than what they were actually trained to do....i honestly don't know how some people make it through nursing school! grrr!!! ok...so there is my vent!! I am happy to inform you that i saw the gestational sak and heartbeat on wed....i had one of the US techs at the hospital i work at do a quick once over of me just to make sure everything physically was what it should be....my ob wants to see me friday and i will only be 8 weeks at that point so it will still be kinda early and as far as my neuro goes so far i despise him! He was assigned to me in the hospital and i didn't like him the first 2 visits when i saw him post hospital stay and this last visit was the last straw.......he knew NOTHING of my medication in relation to pregnancy...he actually physically took the intructions out of the sample boxes and read up on the drug (keppra) and pregnancy..now i'm all about being a case study...i believe thats how medicine thrives...but come on...pregnancy?? This isn't something that should be a way out there situation...it's not like i'm seizing and in renal failure and in need of a weird transplant or something that requires many doctors! So this last visit i sat for two hours in his office after seizing at home 3 times, vomiting, for 3 hours before he finally came in, read the instructions on the keppra and sent me on my way! UGHGHGH!! I'm going to ask for a referal from my ob, even if i have to pay for my neuro myself....this is epilepsy not a frikken brain tumor...i feel i should be able to get some sort of answers....the disease dates back to napoleon for criminy sakes! Anyways! I am very glad your mother was diagnosed....diagnoses are my favortie! Getting answers are what make life go on!!! Feel free to write back and keep me informed!! I'm on the look out for new information everyday!!!!:)